Sep. 19--VERNON -- In the early 20th century, the industrial growth in Vermont and New Hampshire necessitated a major need for abundant, accessible electricity.

Enter the Vernon Hydroelectric Dam and Station, constructed in 1909 as the first hydroelectric facility built whose power was carried through transmission lines. It was also the first hydropower plant to transmit electricity across state lines, energizing cities in Massachusetts as far away as Fitchburg and Gardner.

One hundred years after the construction of the hydroelectric facility, residents from both sides of the river gathered for the dedication and a cookout for the Vernon dam sponsored by TransCanada, who owns and operates the station.

According to Kenneth Alton, external relations with TransCanada, the celebration is a chance for officials to commemorate the history of the station and provide the public with a tour and information of the present output and generating power at the facility.

Fifteen guests at a time were able to walk through the station with officials from TransCanada, providing an inside look at a longtime fixture in the communities of Hinsdale, N.H., and Vernon. Tours ran for several hours Thursday afternoon, many of the guests told the Reformer it was the first time they entered the station despite having lived in the region their entire lives.

The structure is 956 feet long and contains 10 turbines running

at a combined rate of 38,360 horsepower. Sitting a quarter-mile downstream from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, the facility has the largest drainage area of any of the company's hydro plants at roughly 6,266 square miles.

As guests flocked to the TransCanada Hydro Northeast Vernon Centennial Celebration, the Vernon Historians provided a display table featuring historic photographs of the dam. Residents perused the photos and booklets about the early construction of the dam.

The project was quite extraordinary for its day, said Barbara Moseley, founder of the Vernon Historians. The dam changed the history of the town by bringing in massive numbers of workers, many of them stayed in the region and became part of the community, she added.

Two video presentations put together by local residents were playing continuously while participants snacked on hamburgers and chips.

The celebration was also an opportunity for TransCanada officials to showcase the four new turbine units installed at the dam, which officials highlighted during the first open tours at the facility in the past two years. The four replacement generators, all on the New Hampshire side, were commissioned this spring, increasing the station output by approximately 10,000 kW to the current level of 34,000 kW.

These new units are now online generating electrical power into the New England grid, said Alton.

TransCanada, based in Calgary, Alberta, purchased the Vernon station and five other hydroelectric facilities on the Connecticut River in 2005 from USGen New England for $505 million. The following year, the company filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to replace four aging turbines to increase the overall electricity output.

In 1903, Malcolm Greene Chace and Henry Ingraham established an electric utility company, which would go on to take over the Vernon project four years later and convinced local investors to sign over their contract in exchange for a portion of the generated power. After acquiring the land on both sides of the river, the partners founded the Connecticut River Power Company and brought in some 450 workers for construction of the facility.

Within the first year of the dam's existence in 1909, the power demand at the time was 5,000 kW. The first transmission of power from the station went to the Estey Organ Works in July, 1909.

Up until the 1920s, the dam had eight turbines located in Hinsdale before two additional generators were added on Vernon's side of the river.

Chris Garofolo can be reached at cgarofolo@reformer.com or 802-254-2311 ext. 275.

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